Megami Tensei Megathread: two men fuse together and become beautiful

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Megami Tensei Megathread: two men fuse together and become beautiful

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Expect My Mom: Nov 18, 2013; by Smythe

I have yet to play IV, but that along with Nocturne are great starting points into SMT if you feel like you're real comfortable with demon fusing and want a more classic RPG, but at the same time a really buckwild RPG

SMT 1 was my first game that I played after playing Persona 4 so you can really jump in anywhere tbh

# ? Apr 13, 2017 00:55

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# ? Jun 9, 2024 16:52

Captain Baal: Oct 23, 2010; I Failed At Anime 2022

I swear to god after I finish Berseria and FFXV and Lords of Shadow and catchup to Heavensward I will play frickin SMTIVA.

# ? Apr 13, 2017 00:59

HGH: Dec 20, 2011

Please do, I need to hear your hot takes on that game.

# ? Apr 13, 2017 07:10

irlZaphod: Mar 26, 2004; Kiss the Joycon to Kiss Zelda

jimmydalad posted:

If I've only mainly played Persona 3, 4 and 5, is it worth jumping into Shin Megami Tensei 4 or Apocalypse? I know they're in the same franchise, but they seem to have different gameplay styles. I'm also sad I didn't play Nocture or any of the other Ps2 games except the second Raidou game.

SMT4 is a more traditional dungeon crawling/questing JRPG. It doesn't have any of the Social Sim aspects of Persona, you negotiate with demons and get them to join you, then fuse them to create stronger ones (which is all part of P5). They're pretty similar otherwise, turn-based combat where you target enemy weak points to get extra turns. One thing to note is that SMT4 has a weird difficulty curve, it's very difficult at the beginning but gets easier as you go (for the most part...there are some tough boss fights later on too). It's a great game though, the story is kind of front and back-loaded though, but if you like doing quests for NPCs and exploring dungeons etc then you can't go wrong.

# ? Apr 13, 2017 09:35

Captain Baal: Oct 23, 2010; I Failed At Anime 2022

I also added Yakuza 1 to the list so idk if I'm ever gonna get to Apocalypse

# ? Apr 13, 2017 09:36

Marogareh: Feb 23, 2011

Apocalypse turns into Persona in one route.

# ? Apr 13, 2017 09:56

HGH: Dec 20, 2011

Pretty much. Power of friendship beats evil god/s and saves the day, kinda jarring for the main series honestly.

# ? Apr 13, 2017 10:14

Marogareh: Feb 23, 2011

I'm a bit conflicted about it because I liked the crew and it's conclusion but this is supposed to be a mainline SMT. I know the other path is supposed to be more in line with bleak SMT standards but I lost steam once I reached the waterfall cave again.

# ? Apr 13, 2017 10:48

Wark Say: Feb 22, 2013; by Fluffdaddy

The Anarchy route in Apocalypse is PRETTY loving METAL. Like, Cannibal Corpse albums that got banned in some countries metal.

# ? Apr 13, 2017 13:02

Bogart: Apr 12, 2010; by VideoGames

Captain Baal posted:

I swear to god after I finish Berseria and FFXV and Lords of Shadow and catchup to Heavensward I will play frickin SMTIVA.

Don't play Lords of Shadow. Cmon.

# ? Apr 13, 2017 14:31

Captain Baal: Oct 23, 2010; I Failed At Anime 2022

I'm on Chapter IX right now, you are not stopping me.

# ? Apr 13, 2017 15:32

Bogart: Apr 12, 2010; by VideoGames

I can and will. Sign my Change.org petition.

# ? Apr 13, 2017 20:05

MonsieurChoc: Oct 12, 2013; Every species can smell its own extinction.

I kind of want Hastur to be the next final boss in the Persona series.

# ? Apr 13, 2017 21:44

Alder: Sep 24, 2013

I figured it'd be a long shot but does anyone know if Stuffed Morgana is still available for sale?

http://personacentral.com/persona-20th-fes-new-events-and-merchandise-announced/

It's larger plush of the cat not the TYH one.

# ? Apr 14, 2017 00:32

YggiDee: Sep 12, 2007; WASP CREW

Two questions - first, how much do the routes differ in SMT4A (I haven't seen different routes yet but I assume they exist)
Second, is there a New Game Plus mechanic or anything? I just had this weird realization that I've mostly been getting jerk/not jerk choices instead of the usual Law/Chaos/gently caress You options and it's made my playthrough uncharacteristically mellow for a SMT game.

# ? Apr 15, 2017 23:07

Dehry: Aug 21, 2009; Grimey Drawer

https://twitter.com/OtherEhm/status/853800624202416137

Someone found something interesting. Check the replies.

# ? Apr 17, 2017 04:16

Pureauthor: Jul 8, 2010; ASK ME ABOUT KISSING A GHOST

YggiDee posted:

Two questions - first, how much do the routes differ in SMT4A (I haven't seen different routes yet but I assume they exist)
Second, is there a New Game Plus mechanic or anything? I just had this weird realization that I've mostly been getting jerk/not jerk choices instead of the usual Law/Chaos/gently caress You options and it's made my playthrough uncharacteristically mellow for a SMT game.

The 2 routes don't differ in terms of content like boss fights or whatnot outside of a single fight after you make the choice and a party change during the Final Boss. What does change is that you will end up losing access to most of the benefits provided by your allies during battle. You'll know when the time comes to choose.

And yes there is New Game +.

# ? Apr 17, 2017 05:00

Tired Moritz: Mar 25, 2012; wish Lowtax would get tired of YOUR POSTS

_{_{(n o i c e)}}

Dehry posted:

https://twitter.com/OtherEhm/status/853800624202416137

Someone found something interesting. Check the replies.

Noice

# ? Apr 17, 2017 06:59

LibbyM: Dec 7, 2011

How much planning needs to go into a NG+ Persona 4 golden playthrough if you want to max all the social links. Is just having all the social stats, being able to 1 day complete all the dungeons, and having basic knowledge (Like wait until rainy days to enter the dungeon and hang out with yumi or the fox) enough to do it pretty casually without following a guide to make sure you get all the dialogue correct and stuff?

# ? Apr 18, 2017 03:58

Strange Quark: Oct 15, 2012; I Failed At Anime 2022

LibbyM posted:

How much planning needs to go into a NG+ Persona 4 golden playthrough if you want to max all the social links. Is just having all the social stats, being able to 1 day complete all the dungeons, and having basic knowledge (Like wait until rainy days to enter the dungeon and hang out with yumi or the fox) enough to do it pretty casually without following a guide to make sure you get all the dialogue correct and stuff?

It's super lenient, yeah.

# ? Apr 18, 2017 04:12

Nate RFB: Jan 17, 2005; Clapping Larry

LibbyM posted:

How much planning needs to go into a NG+ Persona 4 golden playthrough if you want to max all the social links. Is just having all the social stats, being able to 1 day complete all the dungeons, and having basic knowledge (Like wait until rainy days to enter the dungeon and hang out with yumi or the fox) enough to do it pretty casually without following a guide to make sure you get all the dialogue correct and stuff?

Not only can you do all those things, but having max social stats also means you no longer need to read books at night which means you can hit up the shrine every single time to ensure your S. Links level up when you hang out. I can't concieve of a scenario where you don't max them all out short of explicitly going out of your way to do so.

That said I wouldn't wait for rainy days to enter the dungeon, you still want to rescue people ASAP since your party members aren't available as S. Links while you are investigating. Rainy days become Sun or bike trip days on NG+, though of course a dungeon trip or three is going to be fine.

# ? Apr 18, 2017 12:48

epenthesis: Jan 12, 2008; I'M TAKIN' YOU PUNKS DOWN!

My issues with doing NG+ runs without a guide have generally been from trying to hit optional milestones (eg, having all the school-based SLs maxed before the post-hospital scene where everybody sends you a worried text, or getting Yosuke and Kanji maxed so I can see their Christmas scene). If you know roughly when people are going to be unavailable you should be able to do it easily.

# ? Apr 18, 2017 15:07

Marogareh: Feb 23, 2011

They should re release Nocturne a third time instead of Strange Journey.

# ? Apr 18, 2017 18:49

Harrow: Jun 30, 2012

I'm considering grabbing SMT IV: Apocalypse once I finish Persona 5. How is it, compared to SMT IV? I'm aware of the following criticisms that I've read:

Hardline SMT fans don't like that it (and SMT IV) have an ending path that is pretty unambiguously happy. Which, eh, I'm no purist.
The final dungeon will make me question why I ever started playing video games in the first place

More specifically, how's the balance? One thing I didn't like about SMT IV (one of the few things, really) was that the difficulty dropped off a lot once you got to Tokyo, and pretty much went right off a cliff in the late-game. Maybe it was my fault for having a crazy min-maxed Magic build, I dunno.

# ? Apr 18, 2017 18:53

Pureauthor: Jul 8, 2010; ASK ME ABOUT KISSING A GHOST

The difficulty curve is handled way better in SMT4A than SMT4. In particular the game is willing to throw way more gauntlets of boss fights at you with minimal chances to recover in between which means you usually need to keep a good stock of demons covering multiple weaknesses on hand at all times instead of just relying on a good A-Team to steamroll a single fight.

Edit: Also Smirks are handled way better, the Affinity system doesn't basically reduce a Demon to nothing more than an avatar for the best universal skills, and the Partner system is way better than SMT4. Basically insofar as gameplay is concerned, SMT4A is an across-the-board improvement from SMT4.

Pureauthor fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Apr 18, 2017

# ? Apr 18, 2017 18:55

Hunt11: Jul 24, 2013; Grimey Drawer

It also helps that they limit the amount of skill slots you have. By endgame you will have 8 but for most of the game you only have 5-6 and thus are limited in how much you can break the game.

# ? Apr 18, 2017 18:58

Ibram Gaunt: Jul 22, 2009

The biggest improvement A has over 4 is that the world map is not a loving pain to traverse. That poo poo was so bad in 4.

# ? Apr 18, 2017 19:14

Ibram Gaunt: Jul 22, 2009

And the best part of the whole game is playing the DLC where you get to play as Demi-fiend and Freikugel your way to victory.

# ? Apr 18, 2017 19:22

WrightOfWay: Jul 24, 2010

They also rebalanced damage so bosses don't die in 2 turns.

# ? Apr 18, 2017 19:27

Light Gun Man: Oct 17, 2009; toEjaM iS oN
vaCatioN; Lipstick Apathy

For Persona 4 instead of introducing a new female MC they should have just let you play as Chie and made Yu a social link.

# ? Apr 18, 2017 19:33

Pureauthor: Jul 8, 2010; ASK ME ABOUT KISSING A GHOST

Also SMT4A has this, which is, simply put, the hypest poo poo.

# ? Apr 18, 2017 19:34

Marogareh: Feb 23, 2011

Some of the new tracks are super loving good. My favorite is still the Kinshi-cho park one that's straight out of an 80's horror movie.

# ? Apr 18, 2017 19:40

Wark Say: Feb 22, 2013; by Fluffdaddy

Apocalypse is way more balanced than Vanilla SMTIV, bar none.

The demons you scout / fuse DO matter beyond their Weaknesses / Resistances because the affinity system balances things so that if you try to give a Fire-based Demon the Ultimate Bufu/Ice Skill, the more likely scenario is that, while it'll work, it's not gonna be the same that if you gave that same skill to an Ice-based demon who HAS an affinity to Bufu.
The difficulty and damage output are much better balanced and while a game over can still happen quickly if you don't watch your rear end, regardless of level, it's gonna be mostly on you.
As it's been mentioned, Smirk is not the aggressive, trail-blazing game-breaker it was in 4, but more akin to a buff that affects a number of skills beyond guaranteeing an additional turn/damage. Also, it no longer renders whoever has it nigh-invincible.
Buffs now matter EVEN MORE because now you can have demons that not only buff and de-buff for Strength-Defense-Hit/Evade, but even situational things like taking smirk away, making you immune to status ailments or guaranteeing a critical hit. That is rad.
The map is better lit, everything has a much clearer indicator / name and now you don't have to wander around getting lost (never had a problem with finding anything with the map in IV myself, but the enhancements in Apocalypse are good) and the next place you're supposed to go is always clearly pointed out to you.
Obtaining additional App points is easier, given that, instead of scavenging the corpses for items, you simply report them as KIA and you get App Points as a rewards.
The different routes are easier to get. Never had a problem with the routes in IV, though.
You can choose your partners, so no cursing out "Goddammit, Jonathan/Walter!" because they did something random that made the enemy hand you your own rear end on a silver platter.

I do think that, overall, SMTIV has better tone, atmosphere and story than Apocalypse but if that's not a concern you have, it's honestly a overall better game. Even so, with all that:

The Navarre Soul Dagger mechanic is dumb as poo poo.
Some items are redundant (Mini Incenses, Armor Enhancements)
The Gem system is the one thing I never missed from the SNES games and should've been left in the past.
The traps that teleport you are dull, and unnecessary and don't even put you in that much of a risk. The grabbing hands in 4 were honestly a better "gently caress you" tactic when the game wanted to guarantee an enemy ambush.
gently caress GASTON. That is all I'll say in the matter.

# ? Apr 18, 2017 20:03

Marogareh: Feb 23, 2011

Armor enhancements exist so I can go shirtless and flex my way throughout the whole game.

# ? Apr 18, 2017 20:14

Expect My Mom: Nov 18, 2013; by Smythe

While we are sorta on the subject, I plan to finally dig into SMT IV after I finish P5, please hook me up with hot strategies

# ? Apr 18, 2017 20:22

Ibram Gaunt: Jul 22, 2009

Moltrey posted:

While we are sorta on the subject, I plan to finally dig into SMT IV after I finish P5, please hook me up with hot strategies

Physical is kinda broken and str scaling is awful and mostly effects your base attack. So go dex instead if you aren't planning to magic it up.

# ? Apr 18, 2017 20:23

Marogareh: Feb 23, 2011

Fuse bufu on every demon in the beginning and on the MC as well.

# ? Apr 18, 2017 20:26

Wark Say: Feb 22, 2013; by Fluffdaddy

Pull out all the stops and go with a Luck build. Luck is ridiculously useful in both IV games.

# ? Apr 18, 2017 20:27

Namnesor: Jun 29, 2005; Dante's allowance - $100

Always build Luck in every SMT game. Let your crits do the talking.

# ? Apr 18, 2017 20:47

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# ? Jun 9, 2024 16:52

THE AWESOME GHOST: Oct 21, 2005

Speaking of soundtracks the SMT4A soundtrack was amazing but I'm actually not liking the P5 soundtrack as much as I'd hoped I would. It actually sounds much better on YouTube with headphones than on a TV

# ? Apr 18, 2017 20:50

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